The number of new unregulated drugs is growing on the European market, with at least 250 new substances appearing over the last 4 years. They may be more dangerous than heroin, a new report warns

“A plethora of new substances”are being produced in
‘clandestine laboratories’ across Europe and they are not
controlled by international law, says the European Drug Report
released by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction (EMCDDA).

According to the report, in 2013 at least 81 new drugs were
reported for the first time to the EU Early Warning System, which
brought the number of new substances to over 350.

“It must be a serious concern that, recently, we have
witnessed the emergence of both new synthetic opioids and
hallucinogenic substances that are so highly pharmacologically
active that even tiny quantities can be used to produce multiple
doses,” says the research.

Meanwhile, the internet “is playing a growing role in shaping
how drugs are being sold and poses unique challenges to
disrupting the supply of both ‘new’ and ‘old’ drugs,” says
the paper.

“The fact that manufacturers, suppliers, retailers,
website-hosting and payment processing services may all be based
in different countries makes it particularly difficult to
control,” it adds.

The authors of the research mention so-called ‘darknets’
or anonymous networks.

“The technology to access these sites is increasingly being
incorporated into consumer software, opening up these
marketplaces to more people,” it says.

The problem about the new drugs is the substances are often sold
on the market as ‘legal highs,’ i.e mimicking the
effects of controlled drugs.

“Sometimes they are sold as medicines, in other cases they
are sold clandestinely as illicit drugs such as heroin, or they
may be sold as ‘legal highs’, ‘research chemicals’ and even as
‘food supplements’” adds the paper.

According to the study paper, the EMCDDA is only beginning to
grasp the future implications of these developments for both
public health and drug control, but they appear “to have the
potential to transform the nature of the problems we face.”

“I am deeply concerned that the drugs consumed in Europe
today may be even more damaging to users' health than in the
past. There are signs that the ecstasy and cannabis sold on the
street are getting stronger,” said European Commissioner for
Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström.

EU countries’ drug consumption in figures

According to the report, two of the most serious consequences of
using drugs include overdose deaths and drug-related HIV
infections.

“Recent outbreaks of HIV among drug users in Greece and
Romania, together with ongoing problems in some Baltic countries,
have stalled Europe’s progress in reducing the number of new
drug-related infections,” says the study. The countries
jumped from 2 percent in 2010 of the total number of newly
reported diagnoses to 37 percent in 2012.

In 2012, the average rate of newly reported HIV cases connected
with drug use was 3.1 per million populations. The rate of HIV
diagnoses remain high in Estonia (53.7 cases per million in 2012)
and Latvia (up 46 cases per million in 2012).

Meanwhile, around 6,100 overdose deaths were reported in Europe
in 2012, with the average mortality rate estimated at 17 deaths
per million population (15–64 years).

The highest rates have been reported in Estonia (191 per
million), Norway (76 per million), Ireland (70 per million),
Sweden (63 per million) and Finland (58 per million).

According to the report, around one million seizures of illicit
drugs are reported annually in Europe, with 80 percent of them
for cannabis.

“Almost a quarter of the adult population in the European
Union, or over 80 million adults, having used illicit drugs at
some point in their lives,” it says. “Europe is a major
destination for controlled substances and also plays a more
limited role as a transit point for drugs en route to other
regions.”

Meanwhile, cocaine remains the most popular drug among European
drug-users.

At least 90 percent of all cocaine clients have been reported by
only five countries, with the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and
Netherlands topping the list.

“Cocaine is the most commonly used illicit stimulant drug in
Europe, although most users are found in a restricted number of
countries. It is estimated that about 2.2 million young adults
aged 15 to 34 (1.7 percent of this age group) used cocaine in the
last year,” says the research paper.

Ecstasy, the second most popular drug in the EU, was consumed by
1.6 million or 0.5 percent of adults (15–64) in the last year,
with Bulgaria (2.9), the UK (2.4) and Estonia (2.3) at the top.